Why Birds Come and Go 



lodges the force that propels it through the sky at 

 a speed and a height which take it instantly beyond 

 the range of human vision? 



" There is a Power whose care 

 Teaches thy way along the pathless coast, 



The desert and illimitable air, 

 Lone wandering, but not lost. 



"He who from zone to zone 

 Guides through the air thy certain flight, 



In the long way that I must tread alone, 

 Will lead my steps aright." 



Leaving our grassy meadows in August, the joy- 

 ous, rollicking bobolinks go to feed on the wild rice 

 in our southern states, en route for Brazil; and some 

 may count themselves fortunate if they do not end 

 their journey suddenly as reedbirds, which, plucked 

 and broiled, are served at the epicure's table. 



As near the north pole as Grinnell Land, Gen- 

 eral Greeley found ring -neck plovers nesting in 

 July; yet the young birds, hatched at this late day, 

 were ready by the end of August to journey toward 

 the Amazon country, their winter resort. Many 

 birds must divide their residence between the upper 

 and the lower half of the globe to secure a living. 

 Sandpipers travel between Alaska or Greenland and 

 Patagonia twice a year as a matter of course. Man 

 does not appear to be only a little lower than the 

 angels when he is willing to take advantage of the 

 tameness of these birds, which, because they have 

 been reared in out-of-the-way corners of the earth 

 where he is practically unknown, allow him to ap- 



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